This paper explores the victimization of the ancillary characters in Un Barrage contre le Pacifique. In particular, an analysis of the desperate existences of "les enfants de la plaine" and that of "le Caporal" permeate the novel in such a way as to create the relentless backdrop of physical and psychological despair for which the Durassien novel is well-known.

The theatrical works of Marguerite Duras deliberately destabilise accepted codes of mimetic presentation, freeing her characters to a space beyond the boundaries of realist theatre. I will elaborate the manner in which Duras’ female figures gradually disappear from realist representations to utter a dialogue beyond history, logic and a symbolic universe.